Roll-off truck deck systems are advantageous in that they permit a number of purpose-built truck decks to be readily interchanged on a suitably equipped truck or military vehicle, such as a Humvee. This allows a single truck to be used for a number of different applications and also allows decks to be left at a desired location for use separately from the truck. Examples of purpose-built deck configurations include: flat decks, cube decks, dump boxes, welding decks, portable washrooms, jobsite offices, equipment storage lockers, etc. Roll-off truck systems and further examples of suitable decks for use therewith are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,641,353, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Since the advantage provided by a roll-off truck deck system is in making a single truck adaptable to a number of different applications, it would be further advantageous to make the decks themselves adaptable by providing a number of replaceable and interchangeable attachments that allow the deck to be used in different ways. It would be further advantageous to provide these attachments in a manner that allows their position of the truck deck to be adjustable so as not to be limited by the location of the attachment on the truck deck.
Winches or eyelets are sometimes used to receive straps for securing a load to a flatbed truck or trailer. The truck or trailer is often provided with a channel located beneath the deck that allows the winch or eyelet position to be adjusted along the length of the trailer. The winch or eyelet is not usually secured at a desired position, but instead friction between the strap and the upper surface of the truck deck is relied upon to hold the winch in position. An example of such a system is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 4,382,736. In trailer applications, it is desirable to provide the rail beneath the deck so as to provide as much load-bearing deck width as possible without the trailer exceeding the maximum allowable road width. However, purpose-built removable truck decks do not approach the maximum allowable road width and therefore are not faced with this same limitation. Furthermore, providing a channel beneath the deck would potentially interfere with loading and unloading of the removable truck deck. For this reason, these prior art systems are not suitable for use in removable truck deck applications.
Side-channel systems for trailers are also known, and some of these systems do include replaceable and interchangeable fittings for a variety of different purposes. Examples of such systems are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,480, U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,084 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,861. These systems typically suffer from structural strength limitations, primarily due to the manner in which they are locked in position. In addition, most of these systems have only been previously employed on trailers, not trucks. To the extent such systems have been employed on trucks, they are located on an interior side wall of a cargo space, such as within the box of a pickup truck (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,784 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,585,465) or within an aircraft (see U.S. Pat. No. 2,688,289). This interior application is not analogous to the exterior of a removable truck deck and such systems would be difficult to keep clean of road debris or ice if mounted on the exterior of a vehicle.
In another known system, channels are provided in a top surface of a side wall of a pickup truck box. Examples of such systems are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,259,711, U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,612, U.S. Pat. No. 6,024,402 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,712,568. Removable truck decks generally do not have fixed side walls and, if such a system were provided in a top surface of a truck deck, it would take up a substantial portion of the load bearing surface of the truck deck. Mounted the rails on the top surface of the truck deck would also make the rails susceptible to debris contamination and damage by loading of cargo on and off of the deck. Such a system is therefore not suitable for use on a removable truck deck.
The need therefore remains for improved removable truck decks having adjustable and interchangeable side fittings allowing a single deck to be used in a variety of applications.
One application of roll-off truck deck systems is in transporting cargo. When transporting cargo across a body of water, the cargo is typically unloaded from the truck deck and then loaded on to a boat. It would be desirable to have a purpose-built truck deck that obviated the need for this un-loading/loading step, for example by allowing the deck to float when removed from the truck. Floating truck decks that are compatible for use with roll-off truck deck systems for ease of removal are currently unavailable and therefore the need for these types of truck decks still remains. It would be desirable to utilize adjustable and interchangeable side fittings in creating such a floating truck deck.
Floating bridges are used to transport equipment across bodies of water, particularly in situations where it is desirable to erect the bridge quickly and temporarily. It would be desirable to provide a plurality of purpose-built removable truck decks for use in quickly erecting a floating bridge. However, no such removable truck decks currently exist, particularly for use with a roll-off truck deck system for ease of loading and un-loading. The need therefore still remains for a removable truck deck for use in floating bridge applications. It would be desirable to utilize a floating removable truck deck in these floating bridge applications.